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Weekend Wonders and Even More Comics’ Pricing concerns

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Walt

Though I’ve been largely avoiding most of DC‘s recent output, not much caring for most of the New 52 stuff…this weekend, I found myself totally drawn into their recent Injustice: Gods Among Us digital-first series. I’m pretty sure I missed the first print edition issue (see below for the result of that little interest).

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But, having given the first issue away for “free” recently, I read it…and decided what the heck…another $1.98 to spend $1.98 for a ~30 page comic story wasn’t bad at all in this age of a few $2.99 but mostly $3.99 comics.

But I got to the end of chapter 3 (each $3.99 print edition I believe “collects” 3 chapters of the story as a single issue) and was interested still, so I went ahead and got chapters 4-6. Then 7-14.

And read the entire lot of ’em.

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For something based on a videogame I haven’t played and probably won’t get to play (I own an old Wii that’s been a “Netflix box” and these days won’t even recognize wifi so just sits there), this series has been rather enjoyable–at least for a one-night, one-time, read-it-all-in-a-single-sitting kinda thing.

I might even “double-dip” and pick this up in print if I can find the first issue for cover price (and if not a first print, then hopefully no funky color variance or stupid “sketch/pencils-only” variants or such).

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I’d followed the first bunch of Legends of the Dark Knight digital “issues” until I realized each “issue” was actually only about 10-12 pages, and once they started coming out in print, I’ve stuck with the print editions. And I might do the same here, having “sampled” a big chunk of stuff, and once the print catches up to this, see from there.

Friday I stopped by another comic shop with the intention of picking up Injustice #1 if they had it. Instead, I wound up buying four other things (they didn’t have Injustice #1).

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I noticed an issue of Doctor Who from IDW. It was #6; I flipped through it, noticed it was “part 2 of 2” of whatever the story is, and saw #5 right behind it–part 1 of 2. Figured with the mood I was in, Amy and Rory on the cover of #5 and having JUST watched the midseason 7 finale The Angels Take Manhattan, I decided to grab both issues, just to check out the comics version of things, since I’m quite enjoying the tv series.

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Despite thinking I’d gotten my fill of cheap hardbacks last week…seeing the 16+ issue Mighty Avengers: Dark Reign volume (normally $44.99) for $10.99, I decided to pick it up. That’s cheaper than buying 4 of the single issues, or like paying just under 70 cents per issue…and getting them without ads and in this single, hefty hardcover tome.

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However, the Avengers volume stands in stark contrast to the Aliens volume…which incidentally carries a cover price of $10.99. Not horrible for what it is–a hardcover “graphic novella,” much in line with one I’d bought quite awhile back. I’m a bit of a sucker for the various Aliens comics…and not having kept up with Dark Horse Presents, I’m kinda enjoying seeing some of the specific stories serialized in that series collected as their own titles so I can buy “just” what I’m specifically interested in (so far, X and Aliens).

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I’ve mentioned several times in the past in this blog that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff is my main “weakness” where I’ll overlook pricing in a way that I refuse to do with Marvel/DC in particular. Aliens books tend to be another…though I much prefer the Aliens Omnibus volumes for the “classic” comics material rather than the full-dimensioned smaller collected volumes.

Definitely an expensive weekend overall (especially with several World War Hulk digital issues thrown in there–I might not have bothered with the main 5-issue series, even at 99-cents per issue…but already having #1 thanks to the Marvel 700 #1s Giveaway, I figured having the full event “core series” for the price of a single print issue was worthwhile.

But I think this coming week is going to be fairly small, so that should make up for it a bit.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

More bargain bin finds and even more shiny comics

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Walt

This was quite a week for new comics (as opposed to last week’s hardcovers!). Along with the new “regular” comics and the TMNT #50 Treasury Edition, I also grabbed a handful of issues from the bargain bin…might’ve dug more, but this latest batch isn’t in the greatest of condition, nor did I see any significant runs, and didn’t have the time or inclination to pick through my list of missing X-issues.

I know I found at least a couple of these Transformers issues recently at Comic Heaven in Willoughby,  but while I recalled finding 3 or so issues, I couldn’t remember if it was 1-3, 2-4, or some other combo. For $0.25/ea, I’ll chance it, though. Worst-case…it’s still pretty cool that I’ve found these for this kinda pricing twice now in the span of just a few months!

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I know I picked up at least a couple of these last November with the slew of X-books I bought, but also vaguely recall missing a chapter or two of this Shattershot crossover. Perhaps inspired by snagging the Evolutionary War and Atlantis Attacks omnibii last week, I went ahead and grabbed these annuals…the entire 4-parter for only $1. Not bad at all, especially as “just” a reading copy!

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Given there was no apparent “run,” I didn’t mind snagging Spider-Man #1 just for the heckuvit AS a #1. Besides, the gold ink sorta made it fit in with the others. I actually snagged two copies of Amazing Spider-Man #365…with at least one friend in mind who I’ve been giving some of these “shiny comics” to. And these days, some of these vintage or near-vintage comics that came with posters bound-in…25-cents is worth it for the poster alone (or for pulling a cover off to serve as a poster). Amazing Spider-Man #375 I grabbed for the shiny cover and sentimentality…I remember way back in 1993 or so when it came out and the handful of other “foil web patterned” covers.

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I didn’t consciously recall the Dr. Strange issue, and grabbed it solely for the shiney cover. While I know I already have the Punisher 2099 #1 and Silver Surfer #50, they again fell under the shiny cover bit.

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In total, I bought 15 25-cent comics this week…15 issues for 24 cents cheaper than the cover price of ONE standard new Marvel issue.

Keeps it in perspective, at least for me!

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TMNT #50 Treasury Edition

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Walt

I learned of this “treasury edition” a few weeks back, and asked about it at the comic shop, and was put down for an order. For the sheer physical size of the thing, and the price of usual comics, $9.99 seemed like a steal for this. Of course, now that it finally came in and I had a chance to look at it, it did not turn out to be exactly what I’d expected.

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I’d expected this to simply be an over-sized reprint of the original issue–just the original issue in its entirety, blown up to this massive size. Instead, it turned out that this is basically a companion piece to the issue (blown up to this massive size).

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We get a look at the original layouts to the issue, beautifully reproduced–so much so that I kept looking closer: the intro to the volume references the ballpoint pen, and darned if everything doesn’t look like Kevin Eastman himself actually drew on blank pages and handed the result to me! I also like the annotations throughout…

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Once beyond the layouts for the entire issue, we get a look at many of the final pages in various states (pencils-then-inks, etc); again annotated, allowing quite a look at the process that went into the issue.

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And then at the back of the volume, we get the original notes/outline to the entire City at War story, which proved interesting reading (and has bee all the more eager to dive into the story when my copy of the TMNT Ultimate Collection vol. 4 arrives in the next few days!)

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As I said above…this is very much an oversized publication, as you can see here. While this wasn’t exactly what I expected, and I would have gladly paid $15-$20 for this plus the full-size pages of the original issue, it’s quite a worthwhile volume.

The original Eastman & Laird run, the Tales run, Return to New York, and City at War are my favorite of the original series. And the original printing of #50 back in 1992 or so was offhand THE first issue of the “real” TMNT that I ever bought/owned, so it has special significance for me.

I even have a City at War poster that’s hung in my living room for the last couple years since I acquired it that I fully intend to get framed one of these days.

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Filed under: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

This Week’s New Comics haul: 4/17

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Walt

This was another rather large week of new comics, which leaves me truly hoping next week is a small one!

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The cheapest of the bunch are the issues I’m not as likely to read as soon–I’m waiting for the full Cyber Force arc to be out (1 more to go), having been picking the series up with the price being quite appealing. Jirni is a typical Aspen book; but fell under my standing request for $1-or-less promo-priced issues.

I continue to be frustrated with Valiant‘s clustering of titles. X-O Manowar #12 is out this week, as is Bloodshot #10…marking the fullness of a year I’ve been following all of the new Valiant books. You’ll see Archer & Armstrong #9 there, too–my THIRD copy of the issue, due to my unfortunate spilled-liquid-on-my-comics-and-accidentally-bought-the-stupid-variant-as-replacement incident this past weekend.

Superior Spider-Man is on my chopping block…I’m pretty much just looking for a good jumping-off point while struggling with the idea of the excitement I had just 3 months ago for this title. It’s not bad, but I’m just losing interest a bit–primarily due to the $3.99 price point for the thing!

Cable and X-Force had bought itself a couple extra issues when I saw the ad for this issue–but unless I’m HIGHLY impressed when I read it, I do intend this to be my final issue of this series…in this case due entirely to the price point.

Finally, a new mini-series of “micro-series” for TMNT, focusing on the villains, begins with a look at Krang. While not particularly fond of the character in the cartoon, the IDW–TMNT-verse iteration has been a much more worthwhile character…I consider this much the same as comparing the cartoon Cobra Commander to the comics’ Cobra Commander in GI Joe.

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Continuing the goldmine of bargain-priced hardbacks…Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 11 came in this week, for the sweet price of 75%-off-cover, making it cheaper than 3 single issues of Superior Spider-Man…and come to think of it, about the same price as 3-4 of the original singles it collects.

And not being one to turn down “free,” chose the Punisher volume as my “buy one of those, get one of these free” book.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Mid-April Acquisitions

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Walt

mid-april-acquisitionsThough I shared about the Death and Return of Superman Omnibus a couple weeks ago, I lumped it in as part of April’s acquisitions.

This stack is much taller than last month’s, though not nearly as much more expensive as one might think.

The Evolutionary War Omnibus was 60% off cover price, so it was like buying 7-8 Marvel single issues (and contains 11 or so Annuals).

The Atlantis Attacks Omnibus, Wolverine by Jason Aaron Omnibus, X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda, March on Ultimatum, Ultimate Human, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, and Brand New Day volumes combined cost the same as buying 15 Marvel single issues.

And the Spider-Man: The Real Clone Saga cost about the same as buying 2 single issues.

Which continues to beat the idea into me that idea that I could give up buying any/all new comics, and still have plenty to read–and for far cheaper than keeping up with new comics.

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Ruining a couple comics and falling victim to a Valiant variant

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Walt

ImageSaturday night, I had an experience I hadn’t had in quite awhile: I managed to spill something on a comic.

I honestly can’t remember the last time that happened–I’m not OVERLY “careful” anymore about comics–but I’m not going to intentionally set one in standing liquid, or use ’em as a coaster or anything like that. But I knocked a (virtually empty) pop can off its perch and it landed upside-down on my copy of Archer & Armstrong #9. I quickly grabbed the can off, and attempted to gather up the comics to get them away–which resulted in my (stupidly) stacking X #0 on top of A&A, and not realizing it until the damage to both issues had been done.

While I don’t “collect” for profit/”value” I do like my comics to be in good condition–and I’m certainly not gonna want damp/formerly-damp paper to be stacked in with other (dry) paper–so I determined I was going to consider this a costly lesson, and replace the two issues. When I went to the closest comic shop (Comic Heaven in Willoughby, OH), they had several copies of the A&A issue left and one copy of X, so I grabbed one of each, grabbed a another “sale” hardcover (see post later this week on sale acquisitions), paid, and walked out.

When I got home, I realized to my great dismay, that I’d grabbed the VARIANT cover for A&A…which honestly just totally ticks me off. I’m NOT used to grabbing the singles “off the shelf,” and my standard “pull list” includes a request for the “standard/regular” covers of everything, so I thought nothing of just grabbing a copy of the issue, having identified the series from the logo–which was the main part of the cover that was visible. Functionally this was to be a simple replacement of something I’d already bought a copy of the other day, already read, so there was no “need” to examine the cover.

I am so incredibly sick and tired of variant covers, though. And now, even the “equal ratio” variants–50/50–have become troublesome because they’re not separated out (no reason to, it’s the same issue, no “special version” of a cover, etc) so nothing calls attention to it being a variant without looking at the UPC box to find its designation.

So at this point, to get the cover that I actually want–the REGULAR cover!!!–I’m going to have paid $11.97 for ONE COMIC that stays in my collection. I can accept the $7.98 because I’m the clumsy guy that knocked a can of pop onto my original copy. But to pay that $7.98 ON TOP OF the copy I ruined just bugs the crap outta me.

Perhaps “making a mountain of a molehill” or some such, but this has me once more/yet AGAIN contemplating a radical shift to collected volumes. At least then I’m (so far/to my knowledge) not going to be dealing with near-constant variants for each volume. And the collected volumes often have the art from the variants included anyway, so I can still see the art in-person.

Typically, I quite enjoy Valiant, and have been sticking with ’em in part BECAUSE they’re Valiant. But between their ridiculous “clustering” of titles and so many variants…it’s enough to leave me contemplating dropping the line and waiting just for the collected volumes, despite the otherwise quality stories/art.

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Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT, Valiant | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Walt

The ultimate comics story of my childhood is now the ultimate single volume in my entire collection.

deathandreturnofsupermanomnibus

I “passed” on the original “omnibus” released back in 2007 or so. It seemed expensive, and as I hadn’t pre-ordered it, I had time to learn that it wasn’t a “true” omnibus–the heart of the story (Funeral for a Friend) was gutted, and a number of other stuff was left out.

When I found out about this edition (I believe from Michael Bailey), it had my interest. Yet, the solicitation text seemed similar to the previous edition, listing material from the various issues, but not specifying if the issues were collected in their entirety, or just a handful of pages.

When this arrived in the mail this week and I opened it yesterday…I was quite impressed on a number of things. Firstly, in Amazon‘s “bargain” shipping. I’ve at least twice in the past half-year had to return stuff I deemed too damaged to keep, due to the way they packaged/shipped ’em. But this arrived in good shape, no random dings or dents in the covers or spine. The dustjacket has a little piece bent on the back, but that was UNDER the shrink wrap of the book itself–factory issue, and straightened right out enough that I’m not concerned.

Secondly, the weight and physical size of this thing. This is absolutely THE largest single comic volume of any sort that I have ever bought. I’ve posted in the past about how close some of Marvel‘s omnibus editions are to otherwise “regular”-ish hardbacks…but this one easily dwarfs the largest Captain America omnibus I own.

Thirdly, I paged through the volume last night, and it indeed seems to have the entirety of what I’d expect; each issue’s cover is also included at the start of each chapter, making this essentially a bound-without-the-ads sort of thing…you know exactly where the issue breaks are, and which issue you’re reading.

Fourthly, the Justice League tie-in issue to Doomsday is included in full, as is the Green Lantern tie-in issue to Reign of the Supermen; this also includes the entirety of the Legacy of Superman special. And rather than “short” us with a few pages of “immediately relevant” stuff from Adventures of Superman #505 and Action Comics #692, the entirety of both of those issues is reproduced here.

Finally, the extras–though not entirely impressive in and of themselves–proved a real treat to read through. I don’t tend to care for random sketch pages, but this volume is a certain exception given the subject matter. And while not quite annotations, the text comments from the various creators were enjoyable to read–confirming stuff I (mostly) already knew, and I also enjoyed seeing some of the promo artwork and such that I’d forgotten about or in the case of art for a couple t-shirts don’t think I ever knew existed.

I don’t think I’d consider this “worth” its full cover price at the moment–I have the original issues several times over; I have the original editions of the individual paperbacks, I have several of the issues digitally in my ComiXology account–but I snagged this for 45% off and free shipping from Amazon, and for that price, I am presently very happy with what I got.

I don’t know how well the binding will or won’t hold up–I flipped through carefully, but didn’t try to lay this out flat or actually READ any of the issues in this edition yet, and it was sorta awkward holding it to read the “extras” material without putting this out flat.

But overall, in the present moment…I’m loving this thing.

Filed under: QUASI-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Skipping Wednesday

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Walt

batmaninc009onipadFor the first time in I-don’t-know-how-long, I’ve actually “skipped” a Wednesday trip to the comic shop.

The last few weeks have been expensive. I’m pretty sure the entirety of my actual pull list is all $3.99 comics–Valiant, TMNT, All-New X-Men–and even some of the stuff I’ve been getting “on the side” withOUT officially adding to my pulls have been $3.99 stuff.

And along with the high pricing, it seems that things CLUSTER. Leading to weeks like this–where the only two issues I’d be picking up are not even part of my pull list–FF and X-Men Legacy; two of now-all-too-rare $2.99 books. As neither title seems to be particularly integral to any other title or ongoing events, and I’ve not had any trouble tracking either down, I figure even if I wait til next week or have to swing through another comic shop, not gonna be any real problem getting them. And though I’ve been passively enjoying both titles, neither has me chomping at the bit to read “the next issue,” so this MIGHT even be a test for myself if I even want to continue with them (I didn’t even notice I’d missed issues of Thunderbolts until 2 or 3 came out after my last issue, so I’ve let that one go).

I did (digitally) buy the new issue of Batman, Inc. to read. I’ve rather firmly opted to stick to digital-only for the Requiem issues, specifically AVOIDING the hassles of not being able to grab ’em off the shelf myself for “collectors” snapping them up cuz of the whole death-of-Robin thing (or just fellow readers also checking things out).

So…no comic shop this week, at least not the “regular” or “usual” comic shop visit. Maybe later I’ll touch on that issue of “clustering,” particularly where if the Valiant books were actually spread out more, even one more book planned for print-edition purchase would’ve justified the trip to the comic shop.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Mid-March Acquisitions

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Walt

A few more reasons I love my local comic shop: over the last couple weeks, got Ultimate Comics X: Origins, Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 10, The Iron Age, and X-Force vol. 1 hardcovers for 75% off.

Fitting right into that theme, I stumbled across X-Men: X-Cutioner’s Song for what worked out to 73% off cover price at another shop last week.

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I read the first issue of Ultimate Comics X a little over 3 years ago, and even having paid full price for that issue then, I still have not paid the equivalent of 3 single issues for this series…and definitely look forward to reading this to see if it’s worthwhile.

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Back in 2004-2005 or so, I tracked down X-Cutioner’s song after simply never having gotten around to it in years previous. I believe I found a cheap secondhand copy of an old edition of the paperback…but I’ve had my eye on this quasi-“Omnibus” edition for a couple years now…spotting it for $14 made my week!

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Continue reading →

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This Summer: a 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Man of Steel

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Walt

Saw this in the facebook newsfeed the other day (and already ‘shared’ it via this site’s Page); Definitely something I’m looking forward to, especially given how highly unlikely as it is for me to make it to Metropolis, IL for the Superman Celebration there.

Loved the November Akron Comicon last year, looking forward to this year’s, and a Superman thing this summer? Heck, yeah!

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